"You're very lucky, on my word," said Leroux, with another glance at Christine. "Well, monsieur, you must make the best of it, and try to forget all about it. We'll do our best for you; for you mustn't think of leaving here before daylight; that would be very imprudent." "I have no intention of doing so, if you will allow me to remain." "Allow you! why, with great pleasure! Come, Christine, be spry! prepare our guest's supper." Throughout this conversation, Sister Anne had kept her eyes fixed on the stranger, whose face, although rather stern, aroused her interest and respect. She shuddered at the thought that he had escaped one danger only to fall into another. Knowing now the unmitigated villainy of the occupants of the hovel, she trembled for the traveller's life, and her gaze, fastened insistently upon him, seemed to be striving to warn him of the perils by which he was surrounded. But the stranger had not yet noticed the dumb girl, who was seated on the floor in a corner of the room; hardly recovered from his agitation, he drew nearer to the fire, and rarely removed his eyes from it. "It's lucky, on my word, that the robbers didn't follow you," said Leroux, offering the traveller a glass of wine. "What saved me, I fancy, was this: at the moment I escaped, I heard a great clatter of hoofs----" "Oho! you heard the sound of horses?" queried Leroux, uneasily. "Yes; at least, I thought so. But I was so excited! It may have been other brigands, or the constables in pursuit of them." "Yes, that's so; it might have been." "I served in the army once, but I confess that I don't care for an encounter with robbers; against such hounds, courage is often of no avail. Besides, I had no weapons about me." "Ah! you have no weapons?" "No; my pistols were in the carriage, but they didn't give me time to take them." Leroux seemed to reflect. Since the stranger had said that he had heard horses on the road, he was less tranquil in his mind. "You are a woodcutter, I presume?" said the traveller. "Yes, monsieur; I'm a woodcutter; and this is my wife," said Leroux, pointing to Christine, who was laying the table for supper. "Aren't you at all afraid, here in the heart of this forest?" "Why, what should we be afraid of? We're not rich enough to tempt robbers. Come, Christine, look alive; monsieur will want to sleep when he's had his supper." "Oh! don't hurry her so." The stranger, having recovered somewhat from his excitement, began to look about him with more attention; and as he scrutinized the different parts of the room, he at last observed Sister Anne seated on the heap of straw, with her eyes fixed upon his with an expression which made it impossible for him not to notice her. Taken by surprise, he gazed for some time with interest at the dumb girl's pale, worn features, and seemed puzzled by the strange way in which she looked at him. "Who is that girl?" he asked Christine; "I didn't notice her before."